React is a declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It allows developers to create large web applications that can change data, without reloading the page.

The first generation of Single Page Applications (SPA) frameworks arrived at an enterprise level. They are more rigid. React stays innovative and gets adopted by multiple tech thought leader companies like Airbnb, Netflix and of course Facebook.

The main purpose of React is to be fast, scalable, and simple. It works only on user interfaces in the application. This corresponds to the view in the MVC template.

Why should you bother to learn React?

Single Page Applications (SPA) have become popular. Frameworks like Angular, Ember and Backbone helped JavaScript developers to build modern web applications beyond the usage of vanilla JavaScript and jQuery.

There is a wide range of SPA frameworks. When you consider the release dates, most of them are among the first generation of SPAs: Angular 2010, Backbone 2010 and Ember 2011.

The initial React release was in 2013 by Facebook. React is not an SPA framework but a view library. It is the V in the MVC (model view controller). It only enables you to render components as viewable elements in a browser. Yet the whole ecosystem around React makes it possible to build single page applications (SPA).

Why should you consider using React over the first generation of SPA frameworks?

While the first generation of frameworks tried to solve a lot of things at once, React only helps you to build your view layer. It’s a library and not a framework. The idea behind it: Your view is a hierarchy of compose-able components.

In React you can keep the focus on your view layer before you introduce more aspects to your application. Every other aspect is another building block for your SPA. These building blocks are essential to build a mature application.

They come with two advantages.

First, you can learn the building blocks step by step. You don’t have to worry about understanding them altogether. It is different from a framework that gives you every building block from the start.

Second, all building blocks are interchangeable. It makes the ecosystem around React an innovative place. Multiple solutions are competing with each other. You can pick the most appealing solution for you and your use case.

Single Page Application (SPA)

Single Page Application (SPA) is a web application that does not use the default method of loading new pages completely. Instead, it takes new data from the webserver by interacting with the web browser and refreshes the current web page.

HTML5 and AJAX are used to build responsive apps, and for handling the heavy traffic on the client-side, JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, Vue, etc are used. SPA provides a huge range of interactions such as interactions and smooth effects, which provide a great user experience.